Gang blade slicing apparatus



' Oct. 27, 1936. v N. M. H. BLUMENKRANZ ET AL I 2,053,756

. GANG BLADE SLICING APPARATUS Filed June 28, 1955 INVENTOR.

am y 'w k WZM ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 27, 1936 PATENT ()FFIQE GANG BLADE SLICING APPARATUS Nathaniel M. H. Blumenkranz and Tomun Finizie, Peekskill, N. Y.

Application June 28, 1935, SerialNo. 28,806

4 Claims.

The object of the present invention is to provide a novel type of apparatus for simultaneously producing a plurality of slices from such objects as fruits and vegetables, and particularly objects which have a tough skin and a soft interior which make a multi-slicing operation difiicult when it is desired to avoid rupture of the interior, as in the case of tomatoes.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a multi-slicing apparatus in which the blades are stamped from a single sheet of metal of relatively thin gauge, the multi-blade structure being so associated that a handle frame with adequate rigidity and permanence of alignment of the blades is secured.

A further object of the invention is to provide a structure of the stated type in which the longitudinally parallel members of the frame are so formed and positioned as to be capable of passing through the sliced article, following lines of slice.

The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of an apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention, the apparatus including an associated slicing block.

Figure 2 is a View in sectional elevation on the line 22, Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal section on the line 3-3, Fig. 1, showing in dotted lines an article in position on the slicing block.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a modified form of the apparatus and Figure 5 is a vertical transverse section on the line 5-5, Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawing, it will be seen that the gang cutter is formed of a single sheet of metal I which is formed with a plurality of spaced longitudinal slits having at each end a curved slit at 2.

In slitting the metal longitudinally of member I, the die is preferably toothed to produce the teeth indicated more particularly at 3, Fig. 3. The strips separated by toothed slitted areas are then bent at right angles to form knives, which knives extend vertically when the sheet is held horizontally as shown in Fig. 1, and may have two opposed cutting edges.

We then take a wire member and bend it to form a handle section 4 and a supporting frame section having opposed ends 4a: extending transversely of the blades, the latter being indicated at b. Thereupon the sheet I is curled at the end sections Ix about the wire sections 411: and sections of sheet I extending at right angles to the curled sections Inc which curl about the handle member 4 at law.

By these means, the freely flexible and therefore inherently weak structure composed of the sheet I with its blades 1) is given strength and rigidity.

We prefer that the gang cutter be used in conjunction with a holding block 5 having a curved seat at 6 to receive an article to be cut, as, for example, that indicated in dotted lines at l. The article may be impaled upon a pin 8 and the walls of the block opposite the seat 6 is formed with slots at 5:1: to receive the cutter blades b. When the article, as, for example, a tomato, is placed in seat 6, being preferably impaled on pin 8, it may be readily sliced by reciprocation of the gang cutter. The blades of the latter may be guided by the walls of slots 5a: provided by the block 5. It will be noted that the slots 5x extend below the curved seat 6 so that the slicing may be entirely completed by downward reciprocatory movement of the cutter blades until the cutting edges pass below the seat.

The structure shown in the modified form of Figs 4 and 5 is substantially the same as that illustrated in the preceding figures with the exception that the longitudinally extending members of the handle frame lie immediately over the outer blades of the blade assembly and said members of the frame shown at 9 are preferably fiattened so as to have vertically extending straight walls not very substantially thicker than the underlying blades 1).

By reference to Figure 5, it will be noted that in the use of the modified structure the side frame members 9 are adapted to follow the line of cut and to pass through the article being cut. Thus the modified form of cutter is adapted for the slicing of bread and objects of greater area than those adapted for the form of the invention previously described and illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3 inelusive.

Having described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:-

1. In gang blade slicing apparatus, a sheet formed with parallel spaced longitudinally extending slits, which slits at their ends extend transversely of the sheet, and spaced blade-like areas of the sheet separated by the slits and extending at right angles to the sheet, forming cutting blades, the sheet extending substantially beyond the blades at the opposite ends of the latter, a d a supporting metallic frame member connected to the sheet at each end thereof and carrying an operating handle.

2. In gang blade slicing apparatus, a sheet formed with parallel spaced longitudinally extending slits, which slits at their ends extend transversely of the sheet, and spaced blade-like areas of the sheet separated by the slits and extending at right angles to the sheet, forming cutting blades, the sheet extending substantially beyond the blades at each end of the latter, and a metallic frame member secured to the longitudinal ends of the sheet by the curling of the sheet around areas of the frame member.

3. In gang blade slicing apparatus, a sheet formed with parallel spaced longitudinally extending slits, which slits at their ends extend transversely of the sheet, and spaced blade-like areas of the sheet separated by the slits and extending at right angles to the sheet, forming cutting blades, the sheet extending substantially beyond the blades at the opposed ends of the latter, and a metallic frame member carrying a handle and having longitudinally extending frame areas, each in line with a cutting blade so that said longitudinal frame member will follow the blade through the article being cut, the frame member being secured to said areas of the sheet at the ends of the cutting blades.

4. In gang blade slicing apparatus, a sheet formed with parallel spaced longitudinally extending slits, which slits at their ends extend transversely of the sheet, and spaced blade-like areas of the sheet separated by the slits and extending at right angles to the sheet, forming cutting blades each having a plurality of cutting areas one at each longitudinal edge.

NATHANIEL M. H. BLUMENKRANZ. TOMUN FINIZIE. 

